Unsung Heroes58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBBuWRdxZyu
58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVmYjVo8ET2
Although I stand on the shoulders of giants,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLRtO9NulhX
I fail to see much farther than the bridge of my nose.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtdHCDHOvBC
The fault in mine. The shame is mine.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfQZJQSor0R
For I am unworthy of you, my beloved dead.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsaIAKI8tgC
58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHbuiQIXjEH
Emilio (Maternal Grandfather)58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkeQmVfLQRs
Your crime was literacy,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJn6ho0ityr
And the possession of a social conscience,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV3drl4S7iL
That made you yearn to see your beloved Spain remain free,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNEzY04SMR3
And prevented you from suffering fascists lightly.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU0FEOkCRAd
58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfQyAXOVa6l
You did not bear arms,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPe0H8Xckt1
For you abhorred all violence,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2EIHkHxghw
You did not incite rebellion, though you58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoBJ5pWRT91
Rebelled against the foreign and domestic enemies of freedom.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBhtXp3iJll
58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa6sRpqBhR0
As best I can tell you were an idealist who,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuIZvYuZNcP
In a time of darkness,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWo6Lwna0vj
Clung passionately to the belief,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCrJVlCOWEM
In the perfectibility of the human spirit.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0JsXl4ZZLL
58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKEmjNw1bzB
You would not abide the lies the regional papers carried,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6COHU4qv9k
And translated news from American and British newspapers,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3HNsV2XED6
About the gathering storm,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvKwWoVjtF4
Sharing the truth freely with all who would listen.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXCCuXi5lhl
58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7383tDXZr0
You gave speeches, and wrote speeches delivered by others, in support of a doomed58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhXGuaP1Wq5
Republic collapsing under the weight of its own incompetence and corruption.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJIfUzUQE8x
You were warned by friends of your imminent arrest and offered passage back to the U.S. or to58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3bgzn0IKrj
Buenos Aires where so many of your friends had already found refuge.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaNjYnUA919
58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfHdecj2T9x
But they would not get your wife and nine children out,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOj5SUmv9zm
And you refused to leave them to their fate.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgsSbNwu2Li
They came for you, as always, in the middle of the night,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Vy1rPSrWK
These cowards with stern faces hiding behind machine guns.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMcHReifeMM
58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKCPq2omvJN
They took you prisoner, not for the first time, to the Castillo de San Anton,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZCE3htfJwx
A fortress by a most beautiful, tranquil bay,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7fuSU0zC4Y
Where they tore out your nails, one by one, and those their58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ23zKl8kGca
Gentlest caresses while they asked you for names.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQnep6tp0C1
58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡettpkk2jJE
You endured, God knows what there, for months,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5JZUZcVu80
And were sentenced to be shot as a traitor at La Plaza de María Pita.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbhSIUpMpVI
But the Republic had friends, even among the officers of the fascist forces,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY7n5vkr7x2
And one of them opened your cell door on the eve of your execution.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8XxDC7n7VU
58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkslJhpavGi
You had contracted tuberculosis by then, yet, according to grandmother, you58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa9EMR6K0jY
Managed to swim miles across the bay in a moonless night, to safety in the home of58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFE1w7F9qiR
Another patriot who risked his life and the lives of his family to hide you in58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQuGz1WZ87t
His root cellar and made a trip of many miles on foot to find your wife.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwMqvnZwop7
58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKLmUFC6G3M
He found your home and told your wife of your unexpected reprieve,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmrTh2qqLMt
And asked her to send some clothing and some shoes to replace your dirty rags.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrha2WOeHyy
You eldest daughter, Maria, insisted on accompanying the stranger back on foot, taking58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaDDSUNAUFx
Clothing and what provisions she could quickly gather and carry to you.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKNsAmv19Ns
58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1xWLVZ1TkW
From time to time you accepted the hospitality of an overnight stay In the attic or hay loft of a58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpY4m7lbxAH
Republican sympathizer as these were not hard to58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfdy7gzyMDc
Find in the fiercely independent Galicia under the yoke of one of its own.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzytF93AoWZ
But mostly you lived in the woods, with active guerrillas for years.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnx3N0X51cL
58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb11mmKlmqm
You lived with all the comforts of a hunted animal with others who would not yield,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpTaUsFzMUn
Your only crime consisted of being on the wrong side of a lost cause.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVWxTws4Jom
I hope it brought you some comfort to know you were on the right side of history.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9OaEXw267V
It brought none to your wife and none to your youngest children.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKJgsRsTj2g
58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXhuOFwV3Ae
As you paid the long penance for your conscience, once a month or so, after some58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCzgwwZTItF
Time passed, you visited your wife and children. You were introduced to the little ones58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCU248yGZvo
As an uncle from afar. They did not know the bearded wild man who paid these visits58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMzh8um3c6W
In the middle of the night and left wearing dad’s old, clean clothes.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPv04KTpkGD
58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkUAxsdEfA8
The older ones, Maria, Josefa, Juan and Toñita, all in their teens, told the little ones58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqODnAmZ1Sm
That their “uncle” brought news of their dad. The younger children, still wearing the58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxBjuxLujST
Frayed cloaks of their innocence, accepted this, not questioning why he stayed in58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgqt7IUt7uc
Mom’s room all night and was gone before they awoke the next morning.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHXSjP7LWVT
58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKUqMSkESq0
Your grief at playing the part of a stranger in your own home, of not embracing your58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdWcLMyJtmR
Children on whom you doted, one and all, for their protection and yours, as there were58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMgdW5KnqGx
No shortage of fascists who tried to ply them with pastries and candy,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡirw3GOWp4b
Seeking to use their innocence as a weapon against you.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo0UvUDJZas
58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAX3RJlO3B4
Your parents were relatively wealthy business owners who farmed the sea but58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmXV2mE9ouM
Disowned you—perhaps for your politics, perhaps for choosing to emigrate and58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ84Cj7m3YW2
Refusing to join the family business, or perhaps for marrying for love in New York City58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1QdLPVWI1Q
A hard working girl beneath your social station in their eyes.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdUwiWQK04r
58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjCaoK74zEF
You lived just long enough to see Spain delivered from war,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3d5837zZ1g
Though not freed of her chains.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzm77sZg5Xq
You were spared the war’s aftermath.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrG1UTtWiDV
Your wife and children were not.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZluif9Q7M0
58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUSK0FPrEDz
No books record your name. Most of those who knew you are dead.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2sXCIUGWpz
Yet flowers have long perpetually appeared on your simple above-ground burial site in58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtiDKENbTc4
Sada that holds your ashes, and those of your eldest son, Juan, and second-58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6cEihyWtZi
Eldest daughter, Toñita, who died much younger than even you.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7UVK1QCw9k
58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8WrQyjUsh8
Your wife has joined you there, in a place where58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY4KpJsquNc
Honor, goodness, decency, principle and a pure,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9S5L23cKM3
Broken heart,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4gydLmgRFP
Now rest in peace.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpbcupK7Hf0
58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Mxo2zOJTi
Author's Note: You can hear my reading of this poem free on Spotify at the following link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1AOXDwsNKke4AzCnr8gl3c?si=_OdzkNRoSaqlhYI3xxfpQg58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvXSFOZRFFf

From: Of Pain and Ecstasy: Collected Poems (Vol. 1)